Line tightener



Aug. 22, 1939. w. J. BOUDREAU LINE TIGHTENER Filed May 5, 1938 PatentedAug. 22, 1939 UNITED STATES LINE TIGHTENER Willis J. Boudreau,Minneapolis, Minn., assignor of one-third to Harry G. Whitmore andonethird to Robert G. Peterson, both of Minneapolis, Minn.

Application May 5, 1938, Serial No. 206,178

1 Claim.

My invention relates to a tightener for a line anchored at both ends,and said invention is especially well adapted as a tightener for aclothesline, to take out the sag therein produced by wet clothes hungthereon, prevent the same from touching the ground, and eliminate theuse of a pole or prop now commonly used.

The object of the invention. is to provide a clothesline tightener thatis highly eflicient, extremely simple and of small cost to manufacture.

To the above end, the invention consists of the novel construction andarrangement of parts hereinafter described and defined in the claim.

, In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates the invention, likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved clothesline tightener appliedto a short section of a clothesline;

Fig. 2 is a view partly in plan and partly in section taken on the line2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are views partly in. elevation and partly in section takenon the lines 3--3 and 4--4 of Fig. 1, respectively.

The improved line tightener, as shown,is formed from a single piece ofheavy, stifi wire bent to form areel comprising a drum-acting section 5,on which a section of clothes-line x is wound, and side sections 6 and lfor holding said line on the section 5. Said side section. 6 is formedby bending the intermediate portion of the wire to the form of a longnarrow loop, the longitudinal cen ter of which is at the axis of thereel. The drumacting section 5 of the reel is formed by bending the endportions of the wire laterally at the longitudinal center of the sidesection 6, and again bending said end portions of the wire laterally, inopposite directions and parallel to the side section 5, to form the sidesection 1.

The members of the drum-acting section 5 of the reel are laterallyspaced to give said section the desired diameter. In side elevation,relative to the device, the members of the drum,- 5 acting section 5 aresubstantially parallel, and

transversely of said device, said members diverge slightly toward theside section 6 for a purpose that will presently appear.

One end portion of the wire at the respective outer extremity of theside member 1 is bent laterally outward therefrom and parallel to theaxis of the reel to afford a crank-acting member 8 on which a handle 9is turnably mounted. The other end portion of the wire, at the otherextremity of the side section 1, is bent laterally outward on one sideof the device and then folded upon itself to form a line-engaging stopmember [0, and is thereafter bent to form an S- shaped member II. ThisS-shaped member ll extends outward from the side section 1 in the samedirection as the crank-acting member 8 and parallel thereto. SaidS-shaped member H also extends transversely of the side section 1 andsubstantially equidistant on each side thereof, and which member affordsan inner line- 10 receiving notch I2 and an outer line-receiving notchi3. It will be noted that the entrances to the notches t2 and I 3 areslightly contracted to assist in holding the line :13 therein.

In applying the tightener to the line :13, the 5 side section I ispositioned substantially parallel to said line and then moved toward thesame to force said line between the members of the drum-acting section 5and toward the converging ends of said members, and is securely pinchedthereby and held at substantially the center of the reel. By turning thereel by means of the handle 9 in either direction, the line as may bewound thereon to take up the slack therein.

To hold the reel from backward rotation, when turned clock-wise, bymeans of the handle 9, to wind a sufiicient length of the line :0thereon to take up the slack therein, said line is placed under the stopmember l0 and in the inner notch l2. On the other hand, if the reel isturned anti-clockwise to wind the line a: thereon, said line is placedin the outer notch l3. Obviously, with the line :0 either under the stopmember ID and in the notch l2, or in the notch IS, the reel will besecurely held from unwinding, under the pulling strain placed on saidline.

From the above description, the improved line tightener may be veryquickly and easily applied to a line and operated to take up the slacktherein.

From what has been said, it will be understood that the inventiondescribed is capable of modifications as to details of construction andarrangement within the scope of the invention herein disclosed andclaimed.

What I claim is: 5

A line tightener formed of a single piece of wire bent to provide anelongated loop, the end portions of the wire forming one of the sides ofthe loop being overlapped and outwardly bent to provide a secondelongated loop, said two loops 5 being arranged in the form of a T, theend portions of the wire at the outer end of the second noted loop beingoverlapped in opposite directions substantially parallel to the firstnoted loop and materially beyond the sides of the second noted loop, oneend portion of the wire being bent substantially parallel to the secondnoted loop and outwardly of one side thereof to afford a handle member,said two loops and the handle member being substantially in the sameplane, the other end portion of the wire being bent to provide asubstantially U-shaped member that is perpendicular to the plane of thesecond noted loop and again bent to provide a substantially S-shapedmember that is perpendicular to the plane of the U -shaped member, theouter arm of the U shaped member, on the outer end of which the S-shapedmember is attached, being materially longer than 5 the inner arm of theU-shaped member.

WILLIS J. BOU'DREAU.

